Marketing Gone Wrong

Lessons from the Biggest Scandals in Advertising

We are going to discuss about a set of Marketing scandals where a slogan, deceptive information, false marketing and advertising can demand a company to pay millions for penalties and settlements.

Case 1 : SUBWAY FOOTLONG SANDWICH

This scandal was started in January 2013 by Matt Corby, an Australian teenager, purchased a Subway Footlong sandwich and, for reasons un-known, decided to measure it. The sandwich was only 11 inches long. He took a photo of the sandwich next to a tape measure and posted the photo on his Facebook page. Thus a minor social-media sensation was born.

Refer the below link :

Some Subway 'Footlong' subs don't measure up

INCH PINCH: This Subway Footlong is a mere 11 inches. ( )They deserve a knuckle sandwich. Stingy Subway sandwich…

nypost.com

“The distributor has increased the food cost on the individual owners by 4 to 5 percent every year and provided the owners with less food,” the owner explained.

In 2013, a lawsuit was filed after a photo of a 11-inch sandwich went viral, leading to public outrage and claims of false advertising.

The case ended in a class-action lawsuit settlement in 2016, with Subway agreeing to institute measures ensuring that all Footlong sandwiches would be at least 12 inches. However, no monetary compensation was awarded to customers. A proposed settlement involving attorney fees and an audit of sandwich length was approved, but in 2017, a U.S. appeals court threw out the settlement, calling it “utterly worthless” for consumers, as it did not provide any real benefits or changes.

The court summarizes,

as a practical matter, the length of the bread does not affect the quantity of food the customer receives.

In the end, the court concludes that a $525,000 settlement amount should be made by the company.

Case 2 : Red Bull — ‘Gives you wings’

So, who gives you wings ? Red Bull? As we all know they are not talking about actually wings but the energy we might get from Red Bull was enough for us to fly throughout and that’s how they framed their marketing and advertising structure. It reached its grand response as well which made to the level of recognizing the brand name with the slogan.

The famous energy drink slogan has been found to be false after a US lawsuit and the company has agreed to compensate customers who bought it in America between 2002 and 2014.

The false advertising lawsuit all started in 2013 by a US consumer, Benjamin Careathers, who believed the company’s slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” is deceptive. He argued that it is generally understood the drink should give a higher energy boost than an average cup of coffee. But when he found Red Bull had less caffeine than a cup of coffee, he felt there were grounds for a lawsuit. According to the Red Bull website, One 250ml (8.4 oz) can of Red Bull Energy Drink contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, which is about 80mg.

Red Bull Energy Drink Ingredients, Facts & Figures | Red Bull

Red Bull Energy Drink's special formula has always contained ingredients of high quality. Get the facts and learn more…

www.redbull.com

The court summarizes,

“Such deceptive conduct and practices mean that [Red Bull’s] advertising and marketing is not just ‘puffery,’ but it instead deceptive and fraudulent and it therefore actionable,”

At the end, Red Bull has agreed to pay $US13 million to settle a class action lawsuit over alleged false advertising of its energy drinks.

Lesson learnt from these case :

1. It is a critical factor when it comes to advertising and marketing, a small error might lead to long term effect on the product and brand.
2. Chance of breaking loyal customers and creates a doubt factors among the customer about the product.
3. If advertising/ marketing about the detailed specification of products that to in numerical terms it needs to be on-spot and perfect description.
4. It implies that truth in advertising is crucial. Transparency builds trust with consumers, and exaggerations or false promises can backfire.
5. Usage of humor and hyperbole in advertising requires caution and utter care. It’s important to ensure clarity and avoid any ambiguity that could be interpreted negatively.
6. Now-a-days consumers are more marketing tactics and strategies, they also hold companies accountable if they mislead.

I believe a small loop hole can turn into a scandal and the large end companies provides us the real time example of ‘ how it works? how markets is? and how the consumer are ?’.

Wanna know what happened to the brand like Nestle and Pepsico for their misleading advertising, Stay tuned.

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